Tesla will create 'virtual power plant' with 50,000 Australian homes

There may still be a dearth of electric vehicle charging stations in the US, but it looks like some cities in Australia could soon be overflowing with 'em, at least if a group of companies' rather ambitious plans actually pan out. That group is led by US-based Better Place, which has previously helped bring charging stations to Denmark and Israel, and now hopes to out-do those previous efforts in a big way by outfitting Australia's three largest cities with 200,000 and 250,000 charging stations apiece. That, the company says, would cost $1 billion Australian dollars (or roughly $667 million US), which is where Australian power company AGL and finance group Macquarie Capital come in. The company's would also apparently scatter about 150 battery switch stations throughout each city, and drivers would have to sign up for cellphone-like contracts to make use of the network. As lofty a goal as that may seem, the companies seem fairly confident that they'll be able to pull it off, and that the charging stations could be in place as soon as 2012 -- after which, they hope, folks will finally start buying electric vehicles en masse.